Loss of binocular function is a common symptom of numerous visual disorders, which result in a loss of depth perception. Although there are many diverse causes of poor binocular function, the most extreme one is a condition called amblyopia, the world's most common cause of monocular blindness in adults. The health systems of many countries have, at great expense, developed screening programs to detect amblyopia in children, however when discovered, there is little that can be done to treat the problem. The amblyopic eye (AME) is subject to suppression from the fellow fixing eyes (FFE) whereby under binocular viewing conditions, information from that eye is not used. Treatments such as patching or penalizing the FFE have concentrated on improving monocular function of the amblyopic eye.
Standard of care for amblyopia, in addition to patching, requires regular visits to an eye care specialist such as an ophthalmologist or an optometrist for routine evaluation of treatment efficacy and disease regression/progression. A typical patching regimen has important drawbacks because it does not allow the fellow eye (good eye) to contribute normally to binocular vision and can be troublesome for a youngster. It is therefore highly desirable to provide an apparatus and method that is enjoyable and avoids the above drawbacks.